Before You Replace A Wall Air Conditioner Unit, Take A Look At These Questions

Wall units are very efficient air conditioning options that last a long time, which means that you could buy a house only to find your air conditioning was installed decades ago. The good news is that replacing a wall air conditioning unit is easy compared to replacing something like a central air conditioning compressor, and it's more affordable, too. Like other appliances, wall units have improved substantially over the years and are now really nice—and many models offer different options. If you're about to replace that wall unit, consider these questions before calling the air conditioning service company.

Do You Want to Change the Sleeve?

Wall units sit in a sleeve that holds the unit in place without damaging the wall or tipping over on either side. The sleeves come in a couple of different styles, and many are standardized so that you can reuse sleeves with newer units. (Sometimes the sleeves come with the new unit, but other times, you need to buy the sleeve separately, which is why reusing an old sleeve is so popular.) Discuss the styles available with the service company and see what current models work with the sleeve you have now so that you know what you'll need to buy when it's time to have the company replace the unit.

Do You Want Just A/C or Combined A/C and Heat?

You can get wall units that are air conditioning only, or you can get heater and dehumidifier options. Even if you already have a separate heater, having the option on the wall unit can be very helpful as this may be a more cost-efficient way to heat up one room at a time. Keep in mind that the size of the unit may change if you want additional options, so depending on the size of the current unit, you may have to have the hole in the wall enlarged if you want to add a combined A/C and heat unit.

How Is the Current Location Working Out?

The unit's current location should be enough to cool at least the room, if not allow colder air to make its way farther inside your home to other rooms. But if you've noticed that the current location of the unit is too high up to reach easily or too low to really have an effect in summer (because cool air sinks, so a low location doesn't help much), it might be time to move the unit. That would entail carving out another hole in the wall and filling the current one, but it can be done by a qualified contractor.

Granted, maybe all you want is to replace your old unit with the most current version of the same model, and that's fine. But now you know what options are available, and you can discuss these with the air conditioning replacement company.

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